La Haine (1995) ‘C’
Description: 24 hours in the lives of three young men in the French suburbs the day after a violent riot
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz
Writer: Mathieu Kassovitz
Stars: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Kounde, Said Taghmaoui
Children of Men (2006) ‘C’
Description: In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have become somewhat infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Writers: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, Chiwetel Ejiofor
The Other Side of Hope (2017) ‘C’
Description: A poker-playing restaurateur and former travelling salesman befriends a group of refugees newly arrived to Finland.
Director: Aki Kaurismaki
Writer: Aki Kaurismaki
Stars: Kati Outinen, Ville Virtanen, Sakari Kuosmanen
The Battle of Algiers (1966) ‘C’
Description: In the 1950s, fear and violence escalate as the people of Algiers fight for independence from the French Government
Director: Gillo Pontecorvo
Writers: Franco Solinas
Stars: Brahim Hadjadj, Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi
The Winds of the Aures (1967) ‘N’
Description: The story of an Algerian woman in search of her imprisoned sons during the Algerian war of independence.
Director: Mohammad Lakhdar-Hamina
Writers: Tewfik Fares, Mohammad Lakhdar-Hamina
Stars: Keltoum, Mohamed Chouikh, Hassan Hassani
Braveheart (1995) ‘N’
Description: When his secret bride is executed for assaulting an English soldier who tried to rape her, Sir William Wallace begins a revolt against King Edward I of England.
Director: Mel Gibson
Writer: Randall Wallace
Stars: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau
Hacksaw Ridge (2016) ‘N’
Description: WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.
Director: Mel Gibson
Writers: Robert Schenkkan, Andrew Knight
Stars: Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey
The Ottoman Republic (2008) ‘N’
Description: A Turkish political comedy built upon the question, “What would have happened if Mustafa Kemal Atatürk never existed?”
Director: Gani Mujde
Writers: Gani Mujde
Stars: Ata Demirer, Vildan Atasever
Days of Glory (2006) ‘C’
Description: During WWII, four North African men enlist in the French army to liberate that country from Nazi oppression, and to fight French discrimination.
Director: Rachid Bouchareb
Writers: Rachid Boucharev
Stars: Samy Naceri, Roschdy Zem
The Founding of a Republic (2009) ‘N’
Description: Inspired by ‘true’ events, Founding of a Republic weaves a rousing tale of one man who fought against the tyranny of a ruler and led his people in battle in the ultimate sacrifice for his country.
Director: Sanping Han, Jianxin Huang
Writers: Baoguang Chen, Xingdong Wan
Stars: Guoqiang Tang, Guoli Zhang
Nehru: The Jewel of India (1990) ‘N’
Description: The story of Jawaharlal Nehru- the first Prime Minister of India
Director: Kiran Kumar
Stars: Anupam Kher, Girish Karnad
American History X (1998) ‘C’
Description: A former neo-nazi skinhead tries to prevent his younger brother from going down the same wrong path that he did.
Director: Tony Kaye
Writer: David McKenna
Stars: Edward Norton, Edward Furlong
Battleship Potemkin (1925) ‘N’
Description: In the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel’s officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Writers: Nina Agadzhanova
Stars: Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barskiy
Ivan The Terrible (1944) ‘N’
Description: During the early part of his reign, Ivan the Terrible faces betrayal from the aristocracy and even his closest friends as he seeks to unite the Russian people.
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Writers: Sergei Eisenstein
Stars: Nikolay Chersakov, Serafima Birman
The Wave (2008) ‘C’
Description: A high school teacher’s experiment to demonstrate to his students what life is like under a dictatorship spins horribly out of control when he forms a social unit with a life of its own.
Director: Dennis Gansel
Writers: Ron Jones
Stars: Frederick Lau, Max Riemelt
Amarcord (1973) ‘C’
Description: A series of comedic and nostalgic vignettes set in a 1930s Italian coastal town.
Director: Federico Fellini
Writers: Federico Fellini
Stars: Magali Noel, Bruno Zanin
The Patriot (2000) ‘N’
Description: Peaceful farmer Benjamin Martin is driven to lead the Colonial Militia during the American Revolution when a sadistic British officer murders his son.
Director: Roland Emmerich
Writer: Robert Rodat
Stars: Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger
Reis (2017) ‘N’
Description: A drama about the early life of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, focusing on his childhood in Istanbul, his political career as the mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998, and his short imprisonment in 1999.
Director: Hudaverdi Yavuz
Writers: Murat Ozdil
Stars: Orhan Aydin, Ozlem Balci
Sometimes in April (2005) ‘C’
Description: Debra Winger, Oris Erhuero and Idris Elba star in this drama framed by the Rwandan genocide.
Director: Raoul Peck
Writers: Raoul Peck
Stars: Debra Winger, Oris Erhuero, Idris Elba
Chronicle of the Years of Fire (1975) ‘N’
Description: The beginnings of the Algerian Revolution as seen through the eyes of a peasant.
Director: Mohammed Lakhdar Hamina
Writer: Rachid Boudjera
Stars: Yorgo Voyagis, Mohammed Lakhdar Hamina
Triumph of the Will (1935) ‘N’
Description: The infamous propaganda film of the 1934 Nazi Party rally in Nuremberg, Germany.
Director: Leni Riefenstahl
Writers: Leni Riefenstahl
Veda (2010) ‘N’
Description: Story based on the memoirs of Salih Bozok, which traces the life of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
Director: Zulfu Livaneli
Writers: Zulfu Livaneli
Stars: Serhat Mustafa Kilic, Dolunay Soysert
The Youth of Peter The Great (1980) ‘N’
Description: Part one of a pair of historical films about the life of Peter the Great.
Director: Sergey Gerasimov
Writers: Sergey Gerasimov
Stars: Dmitriy Zolotukhin, Tamara Makarova
Handsworth Songs (1987) ‘C’
Description: In October 1985 Britain witnessed a spate of civil disturbances in the Birmingham district of Handsworth and in urban centres of London.
Director: John Akomfrah
Stars: Pervaiz Khan, Meera Syal
The Russian Ark (2002) ‘N’
Description: A 19th century French aristocrat, notorious for his scathing memoirs about life in Russia, travels through the Russian State Hermitage Museum and encounters historical figures from the last 200+ years.
Director: Aleksandr Sakurov
Writers: Boris Khaimsky
Stars: Sergey Dreyden, Mariya Kuznetsova
Olympia: Festival Of The Nation (1938) ‘N’
Description: The document of the 1936 Olympics at Berlin.
Director: Leni Riefenstahl
Writer: Leni Riefenstahl
Alexander Nevsky (1938) ‘N’
Description: The story of how a great Russian prince led a ragtag army to battle an invading force of Teutonic Knights.
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Writers: Sergei Eisenstein
Stars: Nikolay Chersakov, Nikolai Okhlophkov
The Battle of Kosovo (1989) ‘N’
Description: On June 28th 1389, at Kosovo Polje, an army of the Serbian Prince Lazar made a stand against the advancing Ottoman forces of Sultan Murad.
Director: Zdravko Sotra
Writer: Ljubomir Simovic
Stars: Milos Zutic, Gorica Popovic
Before The Rain (1994) ‘C’
Description: In the republic of Macedonia, amid war in Bosnia, an Albanian girl being hunted by Christians is offered protection by a monk who has taken a vow of silence.
Director: Milcho Manchevski
Writer: Milcho Manchevski
Stars: Katrin Cartlidge, Rade Serbedzija
Dirty Pretty Things (2002) ‘N’
Description: An illegal Nigerian immigrant discovers the unpalatable side of London life.
Director: Stephen Frears
Writers: Steven Knight
Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Audrey Tatou
The Death of Yugoslavia (1995) ‘C’
Description: This captivate documentary covers the struggles of the Yugoslavian people during the collapse of their country, and the subsequent wars to finally find hope with the signing of the Final Peace Accords.
The Night of Truth (2004) ‘C’
Description: La Nuit de la Vérité is situated in an imaginary West African country. After ten years of civil war between the government army of the Nayak, led by ‘Le président’, and the Bonande rebels …
Director: Fanta Regina Nacro
Writers: Marc Gautron, Fanta Regina Nacro
Stars: Moussa Cisse, Georgette Pare
Skin (2008) ‘C’
Description: Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Director: Anthony Fabian
Writers: Helen Crawley
Stars: Sophie Okonedo, Sam Neill
Identity Hunters 